It13 0 inKuplaisi CHRONIQUE11, 111,-Ij1 rtinnhurIrCHRONIK OCTOBER 1956 GENEVA IN MEMORIAM DR. A. SYNGALOWSKI 1889 - 1956 . 0. - 2 THE ORT FAMILYIN MOURNING The flowerson Dr. Syngalowski'sgravehavenot yet faded, the tearsof his closefriendsare notyet dry,our painis still too freshandthe distancein timewhichseparatesus fromhim is stilltoo shortfor us to be ableto realizefullythe immensity of our loss. All of us of the ORT familywho, duringmanyyearshad the privilegeof workingat his side,wereattachedto him by other tiesthan the respectand esteemdue to the Presidentof the world movementof ORT andto the headof the Centralofficeof the ORT Union. It was morethan anythingelsea feelingof 1 o v e loyalty for this greatleader,this master,thisgreat Rebbefromwhomwe learnedThorah. It was not alwaysthe "ORTThorah"whichhe taughtus, but mainlyand primarily love for the Jewish people and the service of the Jewish people, alwaysand everywhere.The lovefor the Jewishpeople and the serviceof that people,thesewerethe two supremecommandT mentswhichguidedhim duringhis wholelife,a lifewhichwas, alas,too short. With each of his initiatives,eachof his enter- prises,by eachof his thoughtsand by each -f his acts,he sought to followthesetwo importantmaximswiththe ard-,urand the impe- tuositycharacteristicof allgreatpersonalities.And he sought to applyboth as the Zionistof his earlyyouth,and lateramong the linesof the "Es-Es"and finallyin the course his longyears of activityat the head of the uRT Movementand in his work in the fieldof Jewishculture. Frequentlywe sat at the tableof our greatMasterwho poured out to us the pearlsof his sparklingwit, of that lucidspiritthat drew its inspirationssimultaneouslyfrom the sourcesof ancientJew- ish wisdomand his ownvast modernerudition.Thesepearlsjoined themselvesto eachotherto forman evergreater,everstrongerbond, a solidbondw]-ichunitesus all,in thatunion -rhichwe callthe "ORTfamily". And now the Masteris no more,the oRT familyis orphaned. We standbeforehis gravewithbowedheads and we promisehim:- We shallfollowyourteaching.We shalllovethe Jewishpeopleand we shallserveit. S. Goldman 3 Dr. A. SYNGALOWSKI- THE GREATLEADEROF oRT It was givento r. Synga?.owski,thclastof the threebuil- ders of the 'TorldJRTUnion,to liveand to celebratethe75thAnni- versaryof that greatOrganization.Itwas givento him to seethe realizationofa groatdream:the recognitionofthc prestigeof Jewishwork,healthyandoroductive,inall JewishCommunitiesaround the world. When in June 1955, Dr. Syngalowskiascendedthepodiumof the ORT Congress,hesawunfoldingbeforehim threequartersofa century of Jewishhistory. He and thosewho marchedat his sidein his youth playeda considerablepartin the Jewishcommunallifeof that epoch. Dr. Syngalowskifoundthe rootsof the yRT Movementinthe Haskala which soundedthespiritualawakeningofour people. It was a legi- timatesatisfactionforhim to seethat inspitcof catastrophesand the destructionofthe greatestandnldestJewishcomounities,the peopleneverlostits moralbalanceandsoughtits salvationprecisely in work whetherit be in Israelor in the :-untriesofthe Dia- spora. Dr. Syngalowskiplannedtowritea thoroughstudyon the pro- blem of workamongthe Jewssincethe middleages. He collectedfor this purposea vast documentationwhichneverceasedto excitehim. Overwhelmedbydailytaskshe couldcompletebutthe firstpart. Some notesfoundamonghis papersrevealthe titlesof chapters.Will that book everbe written? It was in 1920thatDr. Syngalowskicameto oRT. But his ac- tive interestforthe problemsofJewishworkmanifesteditselfmuch earlier,approximately15yearsbeforethatdate,at a tinewhichwas amongthe mostdecisiveandthe mostinterestinginmodernJewishhi- story. The ZionistCongresshadrejectedtheprop-salforJewish colonizationinUganda,whichinfluencedapart of the ZionistOrgani- zationto founda partycalled"territorialist"headedby IsraelZang- will. The socialistsformeda scparategroupwhinhcountedamongits membersa numberof leadersandorganizers:thatgroupwas calledthe "Es-Es"- Zionist-socialists.Oneof the mostprominentpersonalities of the"Es-Es",oneof its mosttalentedspeakersandits mostbrilliant leaderswasAronSyngalowski,knownto partymembersas "AronTchen- stohover".To that groupalsobelongedhisfriend,Dr.DavidLvovitch, the secondof the foundersandleadersofthe ;RT. All our national movementsarestillinspiredtodayby the ideasand programssetup towardstheend of the lastcenturyandearlyin the 20thcentury. Thatwas the epochwhenthe Zionistmovementgatheredmomentumand whenthe Jewishworkingclassgroupeditselfintopartiessuchas the "Bund",the"PoaleiZion"and the independent"Es-Es". AronTchen- stohover,talentedspeaker,wasone of the most bitingdialecticians, one of the mostlucidmindsof the period. He knewhow to recognize the transitiontowardsa new era,towardsnew socialandeconomicforms, towardsa new world,wherebeautifulwordsand speecheswouldno longer suffice. And whenhe was calleduponto realizehisideas,he proved that he had wellforeseentheadventof thesenew times. 4 The firstworldwar and latert'.ecivilwar in Russia, struckEasternEuropeanJewrywithparticularforce. The effi- caciousaid broughtto this hard-triedpopulationis amongthe mostheroicactsof the ORT leadersof thatperiod. Yith Leon BramsonandDavidLvovitch,Syngalowskibeganto alertJewish publicopinionandto raisethe fundsnecessaryto the reconstruc- tion of destrqyedhomes. The ,)RTUnion,newlyfounded,stimulated the Jewishpopulationof variouscountriesto haverecourseto self-help,anew sloganamongthe slogansof Jewishsocial work. In Polandand in Lithuania,Latvia,BessarabiaandBukovina, localeffortsweremobilized,initiativesawakenedand independent ORT Organizationscreated,whichsubsequentlyoccupiedan increasing- ly importantplacein the communallife of thesecountries. With ardourand visionthe leadersof the ORTUniontackled the work in the new Russia:HELPTHE JEWSTO WORK- thatwas the appeallaunchedby Dr. Syngalowskiaroundthe world,fromBerlinto New York,to Londonand Paris. ALLOWTHE JEWSTO WORK - thatwas the appealhe launchedin SovietRussia,in Polandand in Rumania whichwas "half-fascist"andin Latviaand Lithuania- "semi-demo- cratic". HELPTHROUGHWORK and THE RIGHTTO WORKworethe two slo- ganswhichcharacterizedORT'sactivitybetweenthe two worldwars. ThenNazismcameto Germanyfollowedby the secondworldwar. AfterBerlinand Parisit was an exodusto Vichy,Marseillesand Voiron. Duringthe hardyearsof the secondworldwar until 1943, afterthe departurenf Dr. Lvovitchfor the U.S.A.,afterthe death of Dr. Bramsonat Marseilles,Syngalowskiremainedin Francewhere ORT continuedits workin thc campsand in the townsof the so-called "free"zone. Fromthere,accordingto a decisionof the Executive, he proceededto Switzerland. The chapternf Old in Switzerlandis, no doubt,one of the most importantin oRT'shistoryand in Dr. Syngalowski'swork. Dr. Syngalowskiarrivedin Switzerland- a refugeeamongmany others. His wholebaggageconsistedof his ideas,his initiativeandthe forcewhichhe drew fromhis will and his legendarygiftof persua- sion. In those darkdayshis main concernwas to make certainthat ORT'sflag shouldnot totallydisappearfromthe Europeancontinent. And, sinceat thattimetherewere severalthousandsJewishrefugees in Switzerland,in the campsand in internmenthomes,his firstthought was to createschools,trainingworkshopsand vocatilnalcoursesfor youthsand adults,in orderto preparethem for a post-warfuture. The creationin Switzerlandof an independentLET organizationwas underthe conditionsof thosedaysquitea masterstroke. Littleby little,aidedby friendsacquiredin the courseof years,he succeeded in consolidatingthe organizationand in creatingin Switzerlanda networkof ORT institutionswhichenjoyeda god reputationand heigh- tenedORT'sprestigein non-Jewishcirclesas well. But Dr. Syngalowskisawfurther:-beforeJewishand interna- tionalcircleshe constantlydevelopedhis idea of preparingquali- fied cadres,capableof servingJewishreconstructionafterthewar. It was that ideawhichlatergavebirthto the CentralInstitutefor the trainingof Jewishinstructorsand teachers,an Institutewhich was builtafterthe war at AnieresnearGeneva,andwhichtodayis a uniqueJewishInstitutionin Europe. From SwitzerlandDr. Syngalowskiwith Dr. Lvovitchdirected ORT's extensivework in favour of uprooted Jews in the camps of Ger- many and Austria,during the first post-waryears. After the Libera- tion he createdORT Organizati)nsin Belgium and Holland,then in Italy attractingeverywherethe most active forces of local Jewish communityleadership. The renaissanceof URT Organizationsin Poland, Rumania and Bulgaria,Hungary and Czechoslovakiawas also his work. He visited them for the last time in 1948, just before the Iron Curtain descendedon these countries ... It was about that period when ORT Institutionswere created in North Africa, and then in Iran. RepeatedlyDr. Syngalowskihimself appeared on the spot in order to encouragethe local ORT loaders and to stimulateever new initiatives. It is due to .himthat the ORT schools in Morocco,Tunisia and Algeria were consolidatedand new programs established,particularlyin the field of acceleratedtraining 'foradults and the ApprenticeshipPlacementSorvice A few years ago the French Governmentconfeavedupon Dr. Synga- lowski the Order of the Legion of Honour in recognitionof his merits and achievementsin the field of professionaleducationof youth. It was the creation of ORT in Israel which Dr. Syngalowskiliked to consideras the crowning of the work in his last years. It was his youngeat child, his Benjamin,the object of his special care. During seven years ORT in Israel never ceased to be the centre of his pre- occupationand he